


Fake It Until You Make It Real

by LarryFanficWriter



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Abusive Parent, Art Teacher Zayn Malik, Child Neglect, Doctor Harry Styles, Doctor Liam Payne, Fake Marriage, Fake/Pretend Relationship, M/M, Nurse Niall Horan, Single Parents, Teacher Louis Tomlinson, not slow burn but slow burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-01
Updated: 2021-02-08
Packaged: 2021-03-11 08:28:23
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 18,476
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28468284
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LarryFanficWriter/pseuds/LarryFanficWriter
Summary: Fake Fiancé/Husband WantedYes, I know the request looks weird, but I can explain. I work a high demanding job so I can’t have custody of my child unless I marry someone with regular hours and a regular nanny on call. I have the nanny, but she is a uni student and can’t be here at odd hours. After gaining custody and getting a job with normal hours I am willing to pay you or we can talk about divorce settlements. Preferably someone with a stable job and a liking towards kids. If you have a child, they are welcome to live here too obviously and I will treat them like my own for the foreseeable future. Serious inquiries only, please contact me via email I have made specifically for this.Thank you.Harry Styles, a father trying to gain custody of his daughter, resorts to asking for a fake husband on craigslist. He didn't expect Louis Tomlinson, a father to a little boy to answer the request.
Relationships: Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson
Comments: 46
Kudos: 88





	1. One

_Fake Fiancé/Husband Wanted!_

_Yes, I know the request looks weird, but I can explain. I work a high demanding job so I can't have custody of my child unless I marry someone with regular hours and a regular nanny on call. I have the nanny, but she is a uni student and can't be here at odd hours. After gaining custody and getting a job with normal hours I am willing to pay you or we can talk about divorce settlements. Preferably someone with a stable job and a liking towards kids. If you have a child, they are welcome to live here too obviously and I will treat them like my own for the foreseeable future. Serious inquiries only, please contact me via email I have made specifically for this._

_Thank you._  
  
Louis didn't know why he was on craigslist at three in the morning after drinking himself to death's door knowing Freddie was safe with Zayn for the night. He knew that when he was drunk, he tended to do stupid things and think stupid things. He had been on this post for almost an hour staring at it knowing damn well how stupid and dangerous replying was. That didn't stop him from clicking on the email and typing out a reply. 

**To Stranger,**

**My name is Louis Tomlinson I am a single father of a four-year-old boy. I work as a dramatic arts teacher at Abraham Moss Community. Not the best paying job, but nowhere in your post did you have a minimum annual income requirement. Despite the horrible pay I do love my job and I work at this school for free childcare at the nursery across the street my son goes to. I would like to know a bit more information about you wanting custody before I agree to such a thing. You hear so many stories about fathers taking kids to be spiteful, so I want to be sure that is not the reason.**

**Louis**

  
****  
  
It was two days later when Louis got a reply from the mysterious guy. He waited until his lunch break before he read it.  
  
  


_Louis,_

_You are the first normal person who has shown interest in anything that wasn't money related. For that reason, I really hope we hit it off. I love my daughter so much; she is my absolute world and I video call her every day. It's not me that is the bad parent and I say this as nicely as I can, but her mother is a very absent and selfish parent, and it shows. It's funny you work where you do, my daughter is in Year 1 there._

_I gave her mother the money for private school, but she spent it on a new wardrobe for herself and didn't even spent a dime on out daughter. So, she goes to Abraham. I have receipts and check copies, and everything is to prove that I am the 'fit' parent. I have tried to avoid court, but I haven't been able to have my daughter for more than a few hours in over a year. Now her mother is talking about movie to America if her boyfriend gets the promotion at the end of the twelve-month training which just began a month ago. I have a hearing in a few weeks for visiting rights so hopefully if you are still willing after hearing how much drama this will involve, we can talk about everything in person before then._

_Your son Freddie, what's his custody like? He is welcome here anytime and if he lives with you full time that's amazing. Obviously, kids make this a bit more delicate, but all the more reason to see if we can try to be something more along the way? We'll discuss this more another time of course, but reply as soon as you are able to and maybe we can get coffee?_

_Your (maybe) future husband._

  
Louis smiled softly reading about how much the guy loved his daughter. He seemed to want the best for her, and her mother seemed to just want money. He heard about those people and he could honestly say he couldn't believe it. He couldn't believe people put themselves first over their own child. Louis had three-year-old winter boots with the soles so worn out that the snow seeped into his socks, but his son always needed new boots every winter and he'd be damned if his son were in pain over too tight shoes because Louis bought a pair of boots for himself. Louis pressed the reply button and wrote a quick response.  
  
  


**My future husband,**

**She sounds like the devil. I'd be happy to help you if you don't/haven't found anyone better. I have the same lunch hour every Monday through Friday from 11-12 and there's a small coffee shop around the corner I can make it to for the hour. Then my best my mate has Freddie a weekend a month and then me mum has Freddie for another weekend. Usually it goes me mum, myself, best mate, and myself again. So, to make this believable we have two weekends to have "been together". Freddie is mine solely, I'm a carrier so I had him, and his other father ran out a few months after he was born. Ran off with a younger boy without a child and without a scar on his stomach. Let me know when you're available for that coffee.**

**Louis**

  
**_***********_**  
  
Harry emailed only three people Louis, Matthew, and Brian. Matthew and Brian didn't have kids, but they said they liked them. Matthew kept asking about his monthly income which he kept avoiding and Brian asked how big he was and if sex was involved. Harry wouldn't say no to sex of course, but to ask someone's size. He ended up blocking him when he got a dick pic. Matthew then asked how much the wedding would total up to and if they were wearing designer suits, so he ended up blocking him as well. Louis was interested in his reason of doing this and he had a child so knew how real this had to be for kids. He knew what it meant to be a full-time parent and put the kid first. So, he was so far the best candidate and he never even asked about his job or finances. So, after checking his schedule he emailed him and told him he'd be able to meet Thursday during his lunch at the café he knew Louis was talking about.  
  
He got off a rare 38-hour shift Thursday at ten, so it gave him time to make it to the school for a quick minute to see Maddison. He walked into the building still in his pink scrubs and lab coat on as well, but that was because he hadn't taken it off so use to having it on all the time. He headed up to the front desk smiling at Amy.  
  
"Hey Amy, is Maddison available for just a minute? I know she's in art right now."  
  
"She is, however, she's over at the other side in Mr. Tomlinson's room. He's her favorite teacher and she goes there every art class and sometimes when her mother is late for pickup, he stays with her. I can take you to his room."  
  
"Louis Tomlinson?" Harry questioned not believing it for a second  
  
"Well, she calls him Mister Tommy."  
  
"Oh that's- no kidding yeah she told me about him. He gives her candy whenever she gets a good score on her writing or reading." Harry said grinning  
  
"That's him. He seems to be everyone's favorite. I'll take you to him-"  
  
"No, it's okay. Can you just tell her I stopped by? I don't want to disturb her."  
  
"Are you sure?"  
  
"Yeah, it's fine. Thank you, Amy." Harry left the building and headed to his Murano. He waited in the parking lot for a little while as he went through their emails over the past few days. Harry had told Louis his name and that he worked as a doctor. He wanted to get into neonatal care, he already had the training and everything he needed there just hadn't been an opening yet, but the hospital was expanding their Neonatal Ward and Harry had already talked to his higher ups about working there. When he finally got to the cafe, he was only a few minutes later because he got lost in his own head in the parking lot. Harry got out of the car and headed inside up to the front desk. Louis' Gmail account had a picture of himself so when he looked around the cafe it was easy to spot Louis sitting at a booth as he looked down at his phone. Harry grabbed his cup and headed to the booth nervously then set the mug down and slid into the other side. Louis looked up from his phone and smiled.  
  
"Hey." Harry said  
  
"Hi. Sorry I was texting one of the nursery staffs about Freddie. He had a rough night last night so he's having a bad day today."  
  
"Is he okay? Bad dream or something?" Harry asked concerned  
  
"He has a problem of staying asleep, we live in the apartment complex and our upstairs neighbors stay up all night yelling at their game system."  
  
"Melatonin. My mom swears by it when I was a toddler. I had to give mine some when she refused a nap even though she was exhausted a few years ago." Harry told him  
  
"They have melatonin for kids?"  
  
"Yeah, definitely get some for him if he wakes up at odd hours of the night. Also, you know my daughter."  
  
"I do? I know a few Year 1, but not a lot. Who is she?" Louis asked  
  
"Maddison Styles." Louis eyes widen and he grinned  
  
"Yeah, I was just with her. She comes to see me every Tuesday and Thursday during her art class. She has a hard time concentrating in the room, so I took her to mine. I have a free period anyway, so I don't mind."  
  
"Yeah, she's too much like me. Her and I have a sensory overwhelm with too much noise. We also have dyslexia, terrible dyslexia, mine is controlled most of the time now, but she's not doing so good with her reading or writing because she doesn't get at home help."  
  
"Yeah, I figured that out when she wrote her name as Mabbison or Wappison more than a few times." Louis said grinning making Harry laugh nodding  
  
"I had to get five different papers for her birth signing because I was so emotional when I was spelling her name, I messed it up. My mom had to take me to a quiet room and call me down before letting me write again. If was horrible. My patients look at my writing and I can see their confusion build as they try to decipher my spelling." Louis laughed covering his mouth with his hand, "anyway um I know this was meant to be a casual meeting to make sure we're not pedophiles or murders or whatever, but I did bring some copies of things just in case you want to see it. I'm not trying to make her out to be a horrible person, these are just some of the things I had copies of at home."  
  
"Oh, now that I know you're Madison's dad and having met her mother I agree with you. She's a horrible person. I hate her. Today for example Maddison came to school in a dress without a jacket and without leggings. She was freezing, the school wasn't letting kids inside yet, so I let her in the side door to my classroom and gave her some of Freddie's sweatpants I keep in my car. Poor thing is in 3t sweatpants that stop at her shins."  
  
"I have black leggings and a jacket in my car if you can give them to her. I always keep a small totes of season clothes for her just in case anything happens. Usually, the school calls me and tells me if something like this happens and usually, I'm at work so I have to ask someone to bring them for her. A few days ago, her teacher called me and told me Maddie came to school in dirty clothes and when I got there Maddie was in the nurses’ station crying. Apparently, her mother hadn't washed her clothes and that was all she had there. I called her as soon as I left the school and told her is, she didn't wash my daughter's clothes by the end of the day I'd report her to child services. Needless to say, that hasn't happened again, but September hasn’t even ended yet so who knows."  
  
"Yeah, I can take them to her. I don't see how a parent can do such a thing. I always wash Freddie's clothes first then I do his bed sheets then I do the towel then I do my clothes and bedsheets last."  
  
"Yeah, I wash her stuff at my house every two weeks so if I get her out of the blue, she has clean clothes and sheets."  
  
"How long has it been since you last had her?"  
  
"Her mother dropped her off at the hospital when I was working a few weeks ago but she came back right as my shift ended. Maddie was so upset because she thought she'd be able to stay the night. The last time I've had her over night was 16 months ago and I had for her two days because her mother and boyfriend were at a resort for the weekend."  
  
"I couldn't imagine that." Louis said shaking his head, "Freddie is my world. I couldn't be separated from him. I barely manage a weekend away."  
  
"So, does he call you Papa? I know that's the more traditional term for carriers."  
  
"Yeah, most of the time. If he's upset, he'll call me mommy or mama. I am one of the lucky ones able to nurse, at least with Freddie. I heard some can't for their second child or third child. I think with every child the chances get lower. He called me mommy or mama until he was two and a half, so I think it brings him comfort. I don't mind either way."  
  
"That's sweet. I wish I were a carrier. My sister and I had to play mommies and aunties instead of mommies and daddies because I always wanted to be the mommy. I'd shove the baby doll under my shirt and go through labor with my stepdad and everything. My mom held the seat rag to my forehead. We went all out, I demanded it. We were all convinced I was a carrier, then when I was seventeen, I got tested and I wasn't. I was devastated. I cried so much; I remember convincing myself I was straight for years after that. That's how I got Maddison." Louis laughed unable to help himself  
  
"You're joking."  
  
"No. Not one bit. I thought if I wasn't a carrier there was no point in being gay, so I went straight."  
  
"I was the complete opposite." Louis said, "I was always the daddy, I'm the oldest of five sisters and my mom finally gave me a brother a year ago. Two sets of twins. I demanded to be daddy because I didn't think I was a carrier. I thought I was straight until probably sixteen."  
  
"Really?"  
  
"Yeah, I just never really thought about it, I guess. My first boyfriend was when I was seventeen and we dated until he left after Freddie. I had him when I was twenty on March twenty-first and graduated early. He's turning five next year."  
  
"You had him in school and finished your studies early?"  
  
"Yeah, it was really hard, the first year was terrible, but I got my degree and took the first job I was offered that had the best benefits for us as a family."  
  
"That's amazing. We had Maddison when I was in my foundation programme. I was twenty-four. She was born on May twentieth, so she'll be six two months after Freddie turns five. I started working at twenty-six. Hannah and I split then because I had to work so many night shifts, so she started cheating while I slept during the day. She took Maddie and left. We've been fighting since."  
  
"So, you're thirty?"  
  
"Almost thirty. Still in my twenties for four more months."  
  
"Can't relate. Still got a few years." Louis said smirking making Harry throw a walled-up napkin at him. "Well, you look good for thirty." Louis teased  
  
"Twenty-nine."  
  
"Same thing." Louis said grinning as he watched Harry shake his head grinning as he stared off to the side before their eyes met. Louis knew that even if nothing came from this marriage besides Harry gaining his daughter, it wouldn't be a horrible marriage of convenience. Which made him feel better and he could tell Harry was relieved as well, both glad this wouldn't be a disaster.

“I’m sure you have a lot of questions for me.” Harry said, “Especially considering how this came to be. I mean I know you see Maddie with her mom, so you understand some of it, but if you want to ask more feel free to do so.”

“Besides the obvious reasons why go to craigslist?” Louis asked

“Last resort? It had to be someone my friends didn’t know so I couldn’t ask anyone at the hospital. I tried dating, but it never went past a few texts. Having a daughter that I want full custody of sort of makes men run away. They don’t understand why I can’t just get a weekend a month and be happy with it. I’ve tried explaining the situation, but they don’t get it. Then it’s also my odd hours of my schedule. I’m a doctor at the hospital so I’m off and on and on call a lot. Makes it hard. My schedule is pretty tame, but it’s a pain to get use to and stuff like that.” Harry explained

“Yeah, I get that. With Freddie…he’s my priority and obviously before I fully agree to anything, he has to like you too, but that can wait a bit. Make sure you’re not a weird murderer or something.”

“Fair enough.” Harry said chuckling, “So I guess um…why did you offer to help? I know with a son this makes it more delicate, I mean obviously I’m hoping once we settle in, we can try for something real, but why offer?”

“Any parent who wants to see their child should be able to. I would help anyone who was sincere enough. If you were one of those fathers trying to take their child away from their mother out of pettiness then I’d walk out of this building, but I’ve met Hannah. I’ve seen, I’ve seen the clothes she drops her daughter off in while she’s wearing the newest Gucci purse or whatever. I’ve been talking to school about it since the first day, but there isn’t much we can do. We can record it and file it away incase you ever need it for court, but unless she comes to school with bruises or starving, we don’t have grounds to call child services.”

“So, Freddie’s other father?”

“If he ever contacted me, I’d let him see Freddie. I’d talk to Freddie about it first, make him go to the first meeting and if he didn’t want to see him after that? I don’t know. Freddie has asked and I told him the truth, that his other father left a few weeks after he was born. So, it’d be Freddie’s chose after the first meeting and anyone I see would obviously at least respect that. They don’t have to like it or agree with it.”

“I think people can change if the right person comes along. I hope for Freddie’s sake he contacts you a better man than when he left, but I also hope that if he hasn’t changed that he doesn’t drag Freddie into daddy issues.” Louis cracked a smile and nodded

“Me too. They’re not fun.”

“No not really. My biological dad left leaving my mom to feed two kids on one minimum wage paycheck. My stepdad came along and changed our lives basically.”

“My biological father left when I was born. My stepdad came along and gave me his last name so he’s my dad. Then he and my mom split, and mom is married to Dan now. She just had twin girl and boy two years ago in February.”

“Awe really? That’s sweet. I’m the youngest out of two kids. I have an older sister.”

“I’m the oldest of seven kids. Goes me, my sisters Lottie, Fizzy, Phoebe and Daisy are twins then Doris and Ernest are twins and my baby sister and my only baby brother.”

“That’s a lot of sisters.”

“Yeah, I’ve had my fair share of handling little girls. I was six when Lottie came around, so I’ve been through it all.”

“Well then I won’t stop Maddie from painting your nails a pretty pink color when I can’t be her victim in her nail salon. If she’s still into that stuff.” The last part was said sadly as he looked away

“She is. If she’s done with her art assignment early, then I let her color my nails with markers. It washes off by lunch, but she doesn’t need to know that. She’s great. She is one of my favorite students in that school, whenever we see each other in the halls she absolutely has to shout hi Mr. Tommy each time. My students probably think she’s my niece or something. They call me Mr. T all the time and try to encourage her to do the same however I think she’s too shy to.” Harry was grinning as he played with his napkin listening to him

“She’s very social. Always has been. There probably isn’t a stranger in the world she wouldn’t talk to. It’s a bad and good thing. I’ve tried to explain it to her, stranger danger and everything and she understands it, but I don’t think she realizes even a little hi can be dangerous in this world these days. Her mother scares me to death, I’ve seen Maddie run right upfront of cars sometimes and I swear my heart stops.”

“Yeah, I’ve seen her do it too and it’s always the arrival or departure teacher stopping her from getting hit. Hannah will walk her to the crossing way but not to the actual sidewalk so it’s not the easiest thing to watch when I’m on duty. We can’t leave our posts except for emergencies so I have to navigate kids and cars and then watch her and make sure she’s safe. It’s ridiculous sometimes.”

“Well thank you for doing what you can.”

“It’s not much, but of course. I’d do it for any kid. Just thinking about Freddie in the same situation I would probably do the same thing you are. So, for now I’ll help, Freddie is what will be the deciding factor.”

“We’ll talk more and figure it out?”

“Yeah of course. I should go though I need to get back early today. I forgot today is Pop quiz day, my kids are going to hate me.”

“Don’t worry about it. Thank you, Louis.” Harry and Louis stood up and walked out together, “My number is in the file I gave you so feel free to text me instead of emailing me if you want to.”

“Alright. Thanks. I’ll talk to you later.”

“Bye.” Harry and Louis were luckily enough to have parked on opposite ends of the car park, so they didn’t have to awkwardly walk beside each other to go to their respected cars. Harry grinned as he looked at the picture of Maddie, he stole off her mother’s Facebook. It was on her fifth birthday party; one he hadn’t been invited to or hadn’t even been told about. She was dressed in a flowy baby blue dress and her hair curled and she was half smiling as she sat on a chair surrounded by a few presents. He touched the picture that was hanging about his rear-view mirror before he sighed sadly and let it fall from his fingers before he started his Murano and headed out of the car park.


	2. Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well....I had seven chapters finished, but as my readers from my other story know I have a terrible habit or rewriting an entire chapter in just one night because of ✨inspiration✨ and 🌈self-doubt🌈. So just know what was once chapter three is now chapter two because my brain hates me.¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

After Louis texted him the first time after their lunch, they haven't stopped texting except for when Harry slept, and Louis slept. They were currently talking about plausible backstories to make this believable. Luckily, they had Louis' every other free weekend to use as a cover up and Harry's odd hours to use as well. They then came up with their anniversary date, which was July 19 right after summer vacation started. They've been together for fourteen months going on fifteen, but despite that they've only seen each other a handful of times due to work, kids, and their busy lives. Once they work out the finer details it would be believable, but for now it will work.

_From: Harry_  
_What's your ring size?_

Louis pulled his eyebrows together as he stared at the text before sending a reply.

**To: Harry**  
**Why?**

_From: Harry_  
_Your engagement ring silly. I can't have a ringless fiancé, a nice, cute boy might get the wrong idea._

**To: Harry**  
**Like a supermarket engagement ring?**

_From: Harry_  
_No Lewis. A real ring. A real show stopping stone. A real every kiss begins with K jewelry piece._

Despite the conversation Louis couldn't help but laugh as he sent a reply

**To: Harry**  
**I'm cool with any ole supermarket ring**

_From: Harry_  
_I still need your ring size either way so...._

**To: Harry**  
**7\. Also, not every kiss begins with K. Some begin with a slap.**

_From: Harry_  
_Kinky. Tell me more._ _👂👂👂_

**To: Harry**  
**You're lucky I have a class in 5 otherwise I would.**

_From: Harry_  
_Lol damn. Have fun teaching Shakespeare_

**To: Harry**  
**It's not Shakespeare. It's Cinderella.**

_From: Harry_  
_Rodgers and Hammerstein's?_

**To: Harry**  
**Is there any other version?**

_From: Harry_  
_Good man_.

Louis locked his phone and looked up surprised to see Zayn sitting across from his desk.

"Oh, good you've noticed me." Zayn said

"You could have spoken." Louis told him as he set his phone down on the desk, "how long have you been there?"

"Long enough to know you have a secret boyfriend you haven't told me about. I get not wanting to tell Freddie or even your family, but me? Is it new? Is that why?" Louis hesitated; this would be the perfect chance to tell Zayn the lie that he has had a boyfriend for the past fourteen months. Or he could tell Zayn that it wasn't like that at all and he was reading the situation wrong.

"We both haven't told anyone anything. He has a daughter that goes to this school on the other side of the building, so it makes things delicate." Louis said

"Okay I get that but why not tell me? How long has this been going on?"

"Fourteen months." Louis said not meeting his best mate's eyes as he stood up and grabbed a stack of scripts

"Fourteen months?!" Zayn shouted, "you've been seeing someone for fourteen months and you haven't said anything."

"He's a doctor, he works odd hours and so we only see each other a few times a month. Look we can talk later alright."

"I want to meet him."

"Later. I have a class arriving soon so leave." Zayn opened his mouth to probably argue but the first student entered so Zayn huffed and left the room making Louis sigh in relief. Louis grabbed his phone and sent a quick message to Harry asking if he was free sometime this weekend to meet Freddie before he locked it, silenced it, and placed it screen down so he wouldn't be distracted. Come lunch Louis checked his phone to see a message of Harry.

_From: Harry_  
_Yes. I'm off today at 5 until Sunday afternoon._

**To: Harry**  
**Wanna come over Saturday for pizza and Monsters Inc?**

_From: Harry_  
_Uh... yes! Count me in. Should I bring juice boxes? Candy? Snacks?_

**To: Harry**  
**NO!**

_From: Harry_  
_How else am I going to get your son to like me!?_

**To: Harry**  
**The normal way? With time?**

_From: Harry_  
_BORING! I'll see you Saturday! What time?_

**To: Harry**  
**Say four-ish?**

_From: Harry_  
_I'll be there_.

****************

Harry spent Friday after work at different toy shops trying to find the perfect toy for Freddie. He kept asking Louis what Freddie liked on disguise of needing to revise on TV shows little boys tend to like more than girls just in case. Which he did. He knew everything about PJ Masks and Bluey and Puppy Dog Pals. He knew about the animated Star Wars shows boys like and he was prepared with wrestling moves should it come down to it. However, having an awesome toy to give to Freddie wouldn't hurt his chances. He had been trying to be mindful that Louis lived in an apartment, but when he saw it, he knew it was meant to be. It was the last one in stock and it had been on sale, not that he would have cared anyway, but still it was a sign. So, he bought a few things to go with it then headed to checkout. He kept what he bought a secret and come Saturday Harry headed to the apartment complex. When he got there, he allowed himself to grimace only once inside of his car. Afterwards he schooled his features and stepped out locked his car three times just to be sure as he headed to the apartment building. The front door was held open by a large rock and the tiled floor was peeling but Harry ignored it and head up to the fourth floor to room 5D and knocked on it. He knocked on it while staring behind him at an old man sitting in a rocking chair with his front foot wide open watching him. He was only there for a few seconds before the door was pulled open revealing Louis.

"Is he alive?" Harry asked instead of greeting Louis like he had planned.

"Yes, though I never actually see him move but I see him gone." Louis said amused

"Right. Sorry. Hi."

"Come in before you get nightmares." Louis said pulling him into the apartment that matched the rest of the apartment complex except it was obvious Louis had done what the apartment manager allowed him to do to make it better. There was new paint on the walls and the floor had the new faux wood flooring probably replacing the tile that seemed to be all over the complex, "Freddie is in his room picking out his favorite toys to show you."

"Perfect. Do they have names?"

"Some of them though they change every other month."

"Got it. I bought him something by the way."

"I figured you had a scheme behind your questions. How big is it?" Louis asked folding his arms as Harry who shrugged

"I can carry it no problem."

"That doesn't tell me anything. Will it be in the way of my perfectly made walkway of toddler toys?"

"Yes, but it has a storage compartment."

"Will it be able to fit through the door once its constructed when we move?" Harry looked at the door then back at Louis and shook his head, "then no."

"What if I promise to be the one to take it apart and put it together?"

"Even tonight because you know he'll want it built."

"Yes, I promise."

"Fine. After pizza." Harry grinned following Louis to the couch, "just so you know don't be offended if he suddenly gets shy when he sees you. I never brought anyone home, so this is new to him."

"Relax I have a way with kids. You'll see and if it turns out he is immune to the Styles magic I have the toy as a backup."

"So, you are bribing my son."

"Call it what you will we are having Harry and Freddie bonding time while he loses every important piece as I build him his toy."

"That is probably accurate." Louis said amused, "How do you know so much about toddlers? You mentioned you didn't see Maddie much as a baby due to school and work and they moved here what...three years ago?"

"Yeah, just about. I work in a hospital. I see toddlers a lot when families visit loved ones and I occasionally work in the pediatric ward. Plus, I love kids. Always wanted a big family." Before Louis could reply Freddie came into the living room hugging the superhero chutes and ladders board game close to his body. Freddie climbed onto Louis' lap making shy eye contact with Harry before he turned away only to look back at him again a few seconds later.

"Hi Freddie." Harry said gently, "I'm Harry." He said leaning into him briefly teasingly making Freddie smile as he leaned away. "I bought you a gift." That had Freddie's attention

"You did?"

"I did. Your papa says it has to wait until after dinner though. Do you by chance have something we can do to make the time go by faster?" Harry asked innocently

"Maybe."

"Well, if you...by chance...have chutes and ladders anywhere in your collection...just know it's one of my favorite games ever."

"It is?!"

"Of course, it is!"

"I have it!" Freddie said excitedly as he handed Harry the box

"And it has superheroes?! That's so cool!" Harry said enthusiastically as he knelt on the floor at the coffee table, "Wanna play with me?"

"Yes!" Freddie quickly scrambled off of Louis' lap and knelt beside Harry and helped set the game up handing Louis the wolverine character and taking the spiderman character for himself. Harry took the Iron Man character before they closed the box and set it to the side and Louis knelt down across from Harry as he grinned at him. Throughout the game Harry kept asking Freddie about his toys and how Nursery was going and his favorite tv shows. Louis watched his son completely fall in love with Harry over the course of two games that Freddie won without _any_ help from them.

"Do you want to see my train collection?" Freddie asked after he helped put away the game

"Of course, I want to see it." Louis watched as Freddie grabbed Harry's hand and pulled him to spare room that was once Louis' office that had been turned into Freddie's toy room. Harry grinned as he looked back at him waving his fingers before he turned into the small hall. They were gone only a few minutes before the pizza arrived. After tipping the deliver guy he headed to the kitchen and set the pizza and cheese bread boxes down grabbing some plates. He made Freddie a player with two of the smallest slices of pizza then a thin slice of cheese bread. He set the plate on the coffee table with his refilled cup of juice then he made Harry a plate of the two biggest slices and two things of cheesy bread. After Harry's he made his own and called the boys for dinner, they left a minute later with Freddie telling Harry the story of Operation Patching Patches which was his teddy bear that had a huge hole in the stomach that had been sewn closed with a scrap of fabric.

"Papa didn't do a very good job, the stuffing still falls out, but Papa always told me it's the thought that counts so...that's why I have a jar full of stuffing."

"Well, you know Freddie I sew up open cuts all the time. I can fix Patches if you want me to."

"Good luck he doesn't let anyone have Patches." Louis said handing Harry his plate and a beer bottle

"Thank you and I won't have to have him. I have a sewing kit in my car." Freddie sat in the middle of the couch making it clear he expected to sit between them. Harry didn't even raise a brow as he sat beside Freddie on one end of the sofa. Even Zayn tells Freddie to scoot over and Zayn adores Freddie, it took Louis by surprise for a second before he sat on the other end. Harry and he locked eyes over Freddie and grinned before Louis turned on the movie Freddie picked out earlier.

***************

Louis laid on the couch watching as Harry, with Freddie in his lap more often than not, built the train track table. Harry had endlessly amount of patience for Freddie's curious mind and was gentle when explaining why Freddie couldn't do some of the things however, he did let Freddie screw in the screws tightening them quite a bit when Freddie was putting the screws on the other side. There were many photos and videos on Louis' phone of them together and a part of him wished in that moment that Harry was his real boyfriend, and he was meeting his son for the first time because they were ready for that next step in their relationship. He knew Harry wanted to try for something real together, but their relationship will have always started as a lie no matter where it led.

Shaking that thought out of his head he watched as Harry turned the table right side up. They finished the last few steps before they were opening the bags of tracks, cars, buildings, and other things that came with it. Once the city and tracks were built Harry pulled out the conductor hat and placed it on Freddie's head and gave him a whistle that Louis most definitely did not agree to.

"All aboard!" Harry and Freddie shouted before Freddie blew the whistle and they both made arm movements before Harry tapped the train with his finger and the train headed down the hill. By nine, an hour later than usually which Louis will regret in the morning, Louis sent Freddie to bed and tucked him in. Freddie was asleep before Louis closed the door.

"You are his new best friend." Louis said as he walked over to Harry who was putting the toys away with a grin

"Really? So, you think he likes me?"

"He didn't sit on Uncle Zayn's lap until two months after meeting him." Louis said as he took the whistle, "this is reserved for your house."

"Nope. Freddie will be upset if he realizes his whistle is gone." Harry said taking the whistle and putting in the storage bins the table came with. After dismantling it Harry and Louis moved it into the toy room then they sat on the couch, "I promise as soon as we have a solid timeline, I will take you out to a real date if you'll accept it. I really wish we'd have met in the shops or something. Maybe the park on a day I had Maddison. I wish this were normal."

"Don't worry so much about it. Did you want to discuss that? How we met?"

"Yeah, we probably should. Where do you picture meeting me?" Harry asked

"My dream meeting place is an adult toy shop." Louis said watching as Harry's eyes widen before he turned red and laughed, "I'm serious. I always imagine what if I met my husband as we are picking out adult toys."

"We can't tell our family that." Harry said laughing as he laid his head on the back of the couch, "my poor mother...all I'm picturing is telling her how I met my husband as we picked out adult toys and her dropping her pearl necklace on her vanity."

"Vanity!? Your mother has a vanity?" Louis asked

"It was her mother's. Moving on. Pick something else."

"I'm not sure. Where do you think we'd meet?" Louis asked looking at Harry

"Something fun. Unique. Different. Oh, I know. I cut you off." Louis laughed

"Then I stole your parking spot for the deli shop you cut me off to get into."

"And I cut you off in line."

"And bought the last thing of chicken."

"Then invited you over for a home cooked meal."

"With chicken?" Louis asked as he laughed

"With chicken." Harry promised grinning, "I made cheese and broccoli stuffed chicken with lemon roasted carrots and homemade rolls."

"Oh, that does sound good. Damn I missed out on a good date."

"How about you come over my next day off with Freddie and I make it for you two and Freddie can see the house? I work four am through four pm Monday through Wednesday then again on Friday and Sunday. You can come over Wednesday or Thursday?"

"That sounds good. If you're too tired Wednesday just let me know and we'll come Thursday."

"Great. I should go. Thank you for letting me meet Freddie. He's a great kid."

"Thank you. I'll walk you to the door." Louis followed Harry to the front door before opening it for him, "See you in a few days?"

"Yeah of course. We'll talk tomorrow?"

"Yeah." Louis smiled as he slowly closed the door behind Harry then bolted it and locked it. He checked on Freddie before he headed to his room to get ready for bed after a long day.


	3. Three

Harry got home Wednesday afternoon excited for the night ahead. He had let the dogs out when he got home a Harlequin Great Dane named Gizmo and a brown Newfoundland named Bear. The large dogs thought they were lap dogs still despite their big size. Harry had sent the gate code and his address to Louis during lunch and Louis had told him they'd see him in a few hours. He kept his glass sliding door open and headed to the playroom that held a lot of toys. The room was originally going to be the family sitting room with the large space, but it ended up being Maddie's toy room. There was play furniture like a grand walk on kitchen, a play grocery store, a play doctor center, and a small nursery area with many play cribs and strollers and storage for her baby things in the corner.

There was a logo table with her Legos under the Lego board for easy storage that also flipped to be a real table to color on or play with playdoh or whatever else she decided to do. There were six storage cube organizers lined up on the longest wall with a reading book and bookcase in the middle so three were one side and three on the other. Some of the bins were empty, some over filling, and others half full. Harry had to go through some of the toys that Maddie no longer wanted so he could donate them, but he never had Maddie here to figure out what stuff she still wanted and what she didn't. Sighing Harry did a quick cleaning of the room making sure everything was cleaned for Freddie if he wanted to play in there.

He then headed to the outdoor playset and made sure no spiders or bees had made it it's home glad to see they haven't. He headed back inside with the dogs following and just before he was going to start dinner his cameras that displayed the live view onto his tv alerted him of Louis entering the gated driveway. Grinning Harry headed to his front door and swung it open watching as Louis parked beside his Murano and got out smiling at him.

"He hasn't stopped talking about coming over just so you know. Everyone at Nursery knows." Louis said as he helped Freddie out of his booster.

"Harry!" Harry spread his arms open wide and knelt down to catch Freddie as he ran into them, "Papa let me bring some of my toys because he said you have a lot of toys I may not want to play with."

"Is that so?" Harry challenged looking at Louis who shrugged.

"Pretty sure your daughter and my son have different tastes." Louis said as he grabbed a spiderman backpack from the backseat.

"Freddie, I have so many toys you won't even want your other ones come on." Harry said as he carried Freddie, his arm wrapped under his bottom as he entered the house. The dogs perked up immediately and came running over wagging their tails and licking Freddie's leg and shoes, "alright you mutts get off. Back up."

"Papa you didn't say Harry had dogs!" Freddie said excitedly as he wiggled down and was immediately kissed all over his face as he giggled.

"Sorry you're not allergic, are you?" Harry asked looking at Louis

"Don't worry about it and no I'm not. Neither is he. I'm never going to get him to leave now though." Louis told him with a grin as he stood beside Harry, "he's been wanting a dog for years."

"What kind of dog?"

"He wants a dalmatian."

"Maddie wants one too. These two dogs are mine, got lonely so got some dogs. Gizmo is the Great Dane and Bear is the Newfoundland." Harry said before he grabbed both dogs harnessed and pulled them off of Freddie before they knocked him down, "alright before you see...everything....just know that half of the stuff she doesn't even play with anymore or even knows is here since she's never actually here. I buy things periodically to be prepared and so she's not...bored. I don't have her here to help make a donation pile, so it looks like there's more than there actually is." Harry said looking to Louis.

"You're going to come home every week with a new toy, aren't you?"

"No...maybe." Louis rolled his eyes grinning as he knelt down to help Freddie out of his shoes, "I know I went overboard with the outdoor playset. So, don't even tell me. I know okay."

"Lead the way then Harry." Louis said after slipping his own shoes off and place both pairs by the door. The living room was directly to the right and was a fee inches sunken in. There was a brown plush modular sectional and a swivel cuddle chair to match the sectional. The tv was curved and sitting nicely on a tv stand with the drawers filled with movies.

"The only thing you're missing is a fireplace." Louis said

"Other living room. Well technically it's just a sitting room with a smaller tv for background noise. It will most likely be where our families will gather because it has more seating. Let's first show Freddie to the playroom then we can go on a quick tour." The playroom was directly across from the living room on the left side of the front door. It had a sliding door that had a hook lock on the outside where only someone five feet could reach it. Freddie stood in shock of all the space and storage that had toys in it.

"You spoiled her." Louis said looking at Harry noticing he was looking sadly at the room, Louis stepped into his side and wrapped his arms around his back rubbing it, "Hey we can always elope in secret and-" Harry cracked a smile before he laughed shaking his head.

"No that'll look bad. Thank you though...for doing this." Harry said as he wrapped his arm around Louis' waist and pulled him in closer to his side, "come on I'll give you that tour."

** ******** **

Louis watched Freddie from the kitchen windows as he played on the playground with the dogs outside laying in the shade. The whole yard was fenced its, but Harry has still made sure Freddie knew not to go outside with the dogs. Harry was cooking and they kept talking about anything they could think of that still needed to be discussed."

"Wedding day. What day do you want to get married?" Harry asked

"January 19? It's six months after our anniversary?" Louis suggested

"Yeah, works for me. So, I was on Pinterest-“

“Figures.” Harry playfully glared at him before he continued chopping up some carrots.

“I was on Pinterest looking at winter color schemes we could discuss and found some that I liked. So, in order you don’t picked something just because I like it, I pinned every one that interested my no matter how little and you are to pick your top three.”

“Three?! What!? Why three!?”

“Because it’ll be easier to narrow it down. Here passcode is Maddie’s birthday 0520.” Harry said handing over his phone, “Pinterest is in the social media folder on the second page.” Louis nodded as he unlocked it then swiped to the second page and found said folder. Clicking on it he saw the usual Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and Snapchat apps.

“You have Snapchat?”

“Maddie likes the filters. Seriously I think the only time I’m on it is when she’s with me or if she uses Julie’s, her babysitter’s phone to send me pictures. She’s under Princess with a heart emoji in case it ever shows up.”

“Don’t worry I’m not want to jump to conclusions because of emojis and contact names. My mom’s contact is five heart emoji’s and there’s been a lot of weird accusations. Especially since she has a nickname for me which I refuse to divulge.”

“Did you just use divulge in a casual sentence?” Harry asked amused as he looked at Louis

“Moving on.” Louis said pointedly as he found his boards, “You realize you have a wedding color board for every season, right?”

“I like to plan ahead. Moving on. It's the winter one...the second winter one. The newest one." Louis grinned as Harry blushed a dark pink shade. Louis clicked on the board that was made over the past few days and saw a lot of color schemes.

"There's twenty schemes...really?"

"I went a but overboard." Harry admitted, "to be fair I've been planning my wedding since I was five so be glad you have a say at all." Louis laughed shaking his head.

"I'll make a new board of the ones I like then we'll go from there."

"Sounds good." Louis looked through them all twice before he started moving them to a separate board.

Obviously, a lot of them were red and green or a light blue which he did like, but it was just so traditionally done it sort of irked him. He knew winter weddings weren't that common, but the colors were, and he wanted something different and he knew that Harry did too considering some the color palettes were for the Autumn season and Spring season. The colors would still work for the winter and he did like some, but it was the copper and greenery that kept his eye. Considering Harry had three copies of the similar color scheme he assumed it was safe to say Harry liked it too.

"Papa!" Louis turned and grinned seeing Freddie come running in with the dogs not far behind him.

"Hi Hun." Louis said lifting Freddie up onto his lap, "are you having fun?"

"Yeah, Harry's house is the bestest!" Freddie said excitedly as he bounced lightly on Louis lap.

"Hey Freddie, can you be the biggest boy?" Harry asked quirking an eyebrow.

"Yes. Yes, I can." Freddie said

"Great you have to get off your Papa's lap though." Freddie immediately slid down and came over to Harry who gave him the stack of players.

Two glass and one reusable plastic plate with Thomas the train on it. Louis made to stand already opening his mouth to tell Freddie to give him the plates, but Harry gave him a look that had Louis sitting down before he was even out of the seat. Harry then played a handful of napkins on the plates with two adult utensils sets then one tinier set for little hands.

"Put a plate on each placemat then divide everything equally. The little set is yours, got it?"

"Okay Harry." Louis stared at Harry who didn't look at all worried as he turned away and opened the fridge door.

"Are you insane? He's going to drop them." Louis whispered walking over to Harry as he watched Freddie head to the square dining table set for four but only had three placemats.

"No, he won't. He's four years old, plenty old enough to help set the table. Maddie started setting the table at three and did fine." Louis swallowed looking over at Freddie who indeed looked completely comfortable as he set the plates down on the table and started setting it as perfectly as any four-year-old could, “Relax he can handle a few chores.”

“He does chores.” Louis defended weakly because he knew he really didn’t make Freddie do chores if it meant a fit. Usually, Freddie picked up his toys but that was it.

“Minimally picking up toys is baby word compared to what Maddie did at four. I don’t make her slave away, but I make her bring her hamper to the stairs where I carry it down then I have her take it to the laundry room and organize them. I have her feed the dogs, she makes her bed in the morning, she puts her clothes away. Tiny things that make her have responsibility. I absolutely will not step on your toes when it comes to Freddie and parenting styles will sometimes clash no matter what, we’ll have to talk about our dead set no’s obviously, but…” Harry trailed off as he pulled Louis closer to him by his hands and held eye contact, “Just know that as your husband your son is my son, and my daughter is your daughter. Chores, and we can discuss this together and build Freddie up to it slowly, will be done by each child. Freddie will have a fit and a tantrum and he will hate us but believe me when I say in time it will have massive improvements on his behavior. He’ll have a good list of responsibilities and he’ll feel like he’s needed, it’ll be good for him. I respect you as a parent, I commend you as a parent and I’m positive if I had Maddie more often, I probably would have spoiled her too much in the earlier years. Not having her gave me a lot of time to research and study and find a parenting style I wanted to stick with when I had her over. Her adjustment here won’t be easy either, her adjustment to just a few chores was hard so I can’t imagine what it’ll be like when I get her regularly. We’ll work through this together as a couple, as a family.” Louis smiled softly and nodded, he wrapped an arm around Harry’s neck and hugged him feeling his arms wrap around his body immediately returning the hug a tad tighter.

“Are you two going to kiss? Should I cover my eyes?” Louis and Harry pulled away blushing and Louis looked over at Freddie who looked between them, “Papa is Harry your boyfriend? Is that why you asked me if I liked him?”

“…Sort of…” Louis said cautiously as he and Harry looked at each other not actually having talked about when they’d address it to the kids let alone Freddie.

“That’s not a real answer Papa. You told me so.”

“I did say that didn’t I.” Louis said

“How would you feel if I were your papa’s boyfriend?” Harry asked like the saving grave he is as he knelt to be at the same level as Freddie, “How would you feel if we told you we had been dating for a long time and we might want to get married?”

“Married? Like a big white dress married?”

“Well neither one of us would be in a dress…I assume, but yes something like that.” Harry said glancing at Louis briefly.

“Would you move in with us?” Freddie asked almost excitedly, “Will you bring the dogs? And the playset?”

“Actually, you and your Papa would move in here. You’d have a bedroom you can decorate anyway you want and the dogs and the playset and the playroom. My daughter would join us here too sometimes.” Harry explained

“Oh…but what about my toys?”

“We’d bring them with us Freddie Bear.” Louis said kneeling beside Harry and looped his arm around Harry’s, “What do you think?”

“Will Santa know we moved so close to Christmas?” Freddie asked hesitantly.

“Yeah, Santa will know where to find you on Christmas. I promise.” Louis said amused as he grabbed Freddie’s hand.

“Well then…okay. I guess. When do we move?” Louis opened his mouth then closed it and looked at Harry.

“Whenever. When is your lease up?”

“November so we have a few more months. When is your first court hearing again? I feel like you told me already, but I can’t remember.”

“November fifteenth. By then hopefully you have met my lawyer and he has met you and Freddie. Just a routine meeting nothing to worry about. He’s upset with me that I didn’t tell him I had a boyfriend until now, but he told me us taking the precautions we did will look good for us.” Harry said carefully as he looked at Freddie who looked to be paying close attention to their conversation. Louis nodded in understanding, “Freddie tell your papa what juice you want, and I will bring the food to the table before it gets cold.”

*********

Freddie fell asleep halfway through Finding Nemo and after a bit of reluctance, Louis finally agreed to let Harry show them to a guest room so they could sleep the night considering how late it was. Harry closed their guest room door behind him after wishing them a goodnight and Louis crawled into the bed beside Freddie falling asleep within seconds.


	4. Four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *A shorty but the next one will be longer*

Harry was the first one awake due to his horrible schedule this week. Thankfully, it wasn't too early and only a little past five in the morning. He rolled out of bed a bit reluctantly but got into a hot shower and got dressed for his day off. He grabbed a sweater and his smallest pair of jeans after he was already dressed then made his way to the guest room, he gave Louis and Freddie last night. He knocked gently and got a sleepy groan as response, so he poked his head into the room seeing Louis was sort of awake. He was cuddling Freddie, but he cracked an eye when the foot opened.

"I went through my clothes for my smallest jeans if you want to stay for breakfast. Figured that way Freddie won't have to wake up until he has to. I most likely have clothes for him too." Harry spoke softly so he didn't wake Freddie.

"In my car I have spare clothes for him." Louis mumbled as he laid his head against Freddie's pouting slightly, "why must they grow?"

"Circle of life." Harry said stepping in and place the folded clothes on the foot of the bed, "waffles?"

"Sounds good. I'll be up in like...five more minutes."

"See you down there." Harry left the room and closed the door behind him then headed downstairs and opened the glass door letting the dogs out. He turned on his Bluetooth speaker and played his music on shuffle then headed to the walk-in pantry and found his mini dinosaur waffle iron then grabbed a regular waffle maker and headed back into the kitchen. Harry plugged in both irons then got to work making the batter from scratch singing along to the music as he mixed the ingredients.

"Old school Britney? Really?" Harry looked up grinning, a retort on his tongue, but he promptly swallowed it when he saw Louis in his sweater. It was abnormally large on him by any means but was definitely bigger than it should be. It showed just a preview of his collarbone with it leaned to one side. Not too much, but just enough to be visible and a distraction.

"I'm a gay man, aren't I?" Harry said after swallowing three times.

"Fair point." Louis said sitting on the bar stool across from where he was, "Need help?"

"No. Waffles are pretty simple. Easy to manage unless you want to cut up some fruit when Freddie wakes up?"

"I can do that. Speaking of I should go get his clothes from my car. I'll be down with Freddie in a few. If you dance to Single Ladies make sure I'm here to see it."

"I'll be sure to yell for you should it come on.” Harry said watching Louis roll his eyes before he walked away. A few minutes and a few giggles echoing through his house Harry heard Freddie come racing down the stairs with Louis telling him to slow down.

“Good morning Harry!” Freddie said grinning up at him.

“Good morning Freddie.” Harry greeted pulling out the stepping stool with his foot from under the sink and Freddie immediately climbed up to have a better angle, “What are you making?”

“I’m making waffles, but not any kind of waffles I’m making dinosaur waffles.” Freddie’s eyes widen and he grinned looking up at Harry.

“Really?! How?! I want to help.” Freddie said, but before Harry could reply his phone was going off where he left it on the island.

“Hey Lou, can you check who that is?” Harry asked glancing back at Louis briefly before he focused back on Freddie to make sure he didn’t touch anything hot.

“It says Lima Bean with a green heart.” Louis said walking over to him, “Answer it or no?”

“Yeah, put him on speaker.” Louis set the phone down away from the batter then placed it on speaker, “Hey Liam before you speak just know there is a child beside me and you’re on speaker.”

“Relax I’m not calling to complain about my single life. I’m calling because I have a proposition for you.”

“If it’s not you taking my Saturday then I don’t want to hear it.”

“Lucky for us both it is. I can’t come in for my shift today anyway I can swap you. It’s only six hours I promise. Eight to Two.”

“And you’ll take my Saturday? Four to four?”

“Yes, I’ll take your Saturday.” Liam said reluctantly.

“Deal. You’re lucky I love you.”

“Yeah yeah thanks. I gotta go.” Harry ended the call then went back to pouring the batter into the dinosaur imprints with Freddie’s not so helpful hands. Then they poured some into the regular waffle maker and Harry shut both and flipped them.

“Alright Freddie I have blueberries, strawberries, bananas, and I think raspberries. I also have chocolate syrup and whip cream. Two fruits and one topping. If you say please, I might let you have two toppings.” That last part was in a fake whisper.

“Bananas and strawberries and whip cream and chocolate please.” Harry glanced back at him briefly not at all looking guilty for what he was about to do before he scooped Freddie up and made a show of running around the island and to the fridge making Freddie squeal with laughter. Louis shook his head as he watched them dig through Harry’s fridge for the needed contents, Louis grabbed the banana Freddie picked out and peeled it then started cutting half into slices while giving the other half to Freddie to eat while the waffles cooked. Breakfast was soon over, and Louis went about collecting everything Freddie had somehow managed to spread all over the house that belonged to him and pack them back up while Harry went and got dressed. Harry came down in dark blue scrubs that caused Louis to give him a once over though luckily, he caught himself before Harry saw it and instead focused on finding Freddie’s shoe that somehow became lost.

“Need help?” Harry asked.

“A shoe has gone missing.” Louis explained.

“Are you sure?” Harry asked with a raised eyebrow.

“What? Yes, I’m sure I think I’d know if there were two shoes in plain sight you dumb-“ Louis pressed his lips together when he saw Harry pick up said shoe from the shoe rack, “I hate you.” Louis said standing up from his knees that he had been on looking for the shoe under the sectional.

“It was right there.”

“Shut up I hate you right now.” Louis said.

“Right. Sorry. I forgot your blindness was my fault.” Louis glared as him as he slipped Freddie’s shoe on his socked foot, “There. Now let’s slip your jacket on, shall we?”

“Okay papa.”

“Where’s your jacket?” Harry asked as he handed Louis Freddie’s light jacket.

“Papa didn’t wear one.” Freddie said as he slipped his arms through the sleeves.

“That’s because Papa doesn’t need one.” Louis said.

“Yes, Papa does. Here. It’s cold this morning.” Harry said handing Louis one of his pullovers that read ‘keep calm…okay not that calm’ with the heart rate going flat lined. It was medical career humor that Liam liked to gift him as gag gifts.

“You’re joking.” Louis said.

“Nope. Put it on.” Louis glared but did as Harry said slipping his arms in and pulling it over his head while keeping his glare on Harry at all times, “Glare all you want you can thank me when you don’t get sick.”

“I hardly ever get sick.” Louis grumbled grabbing Freddie’s small backpack as Harry slipped on his shoes and pullover that read ‘I can save lives, but I can’t fix stupid’, “Oh god please tell me you don’t find these funny.”

“I do in fact. You’re marrying a dad Louis with that comes dad jokes.” Harry said grinning at Louis as he covered Freddie’s ears and moved his head making him giggle so he didn’t actually know he couldn’t hear a conversation.

“I regret my life choices that have brought me to this part of my life already.” Louis said rolling his eyes as he stepped out of the house, “Come on Fred let’s get you to Nursery.”

“Okay Papa. Bye Harry!”

“Bye Freddie. I’ll see you again soon okay?”

“Not this weekend. I’m with Nana this weekend.”

“Next time.” Harry said rubbing his head, “And I will text you during the day and we can plan our Saturday if you’d like?” Harry questioned looking at Louis.

“Sounds good. I’ll be free after five on Friday so if you think we can squeeze something in then just let me know.”

“Will do.” Harry said opening his driver door and getting into his car as Louis did the same. Harry let Louis pull out first then after making sure his gate closed and locked he followed behind him until they went their separate ways at the light.


	5. Five

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guys will be able to have a say in the venue! The reason it has taken so long is because as an American I have no idea about wedding venues in the UK. So I've been googling and I've only selected the ones that had Winter pictures so we all get an idea of what it looks like. In the comments go ahead and comment your favorite! It can be you only favorite or your top three! I do have three favorites that I am in love with writing a scene with. The Mills Wedding Venue didn't have many winter photos so I encourage everyone to google all the locations as well to get a good feel of them. I LOVE ALMOST EVERY SINGLE ONE SO THIS IS ALL UP TO YOU! I'll be counting Wattpad, Tumblr, and Archive's comments as they come until I am writing the chapter. If you need better pictures they will be on my tumblr page! LarryFanficWriter!

Friday night by seven o'clock found Louis being served a plate of steak, baked shell mac and cheese, honey buttered rolls, and a small side salad as he graded his papers.

"Thank you." Louis said looking up at Harry briefly as he sat to his left, "I could have helped you know."

"The only thing you need to do is one never do work at my dining table again and two eat." Harry said glaring at him playfully, "I have an office y'know, I have a spare office even if you wanted that for yourself. My dining table is not your desk."

"You're the one that demanded to keep conversation going about wedding flowers while I had to grade. I was moving to the coffee table. But I promise I won't turn your dining table into my desk."

"Good. Now eat." Louis rolled his eyes but set his red pen down and moved the graded stuff into his bag and the unmarked stuff to the living room coffee table for now. Returning to his seat he grabbed his fork and dug into his side salad first wanting to taste the homemade dressing Harry made.

"My mom is going to love you and demand to know how you made me eat a salad." Louis grumbled as he shoved another forkful into his mouth glaring at Harry.

"I'll be sure to give her my recipe." Harry said, "I use to cook with my mom almost every night, so I learned a thing or two."

"Now I feel like I shouldn't even try to cook your dinner. I'll disappoint you."

"Never. I just got into cooking because I have an empty house all the time. You have Freddie who gets hungry in five minutes and expects food in ten. You're not obligated to try and impress me with your cooking. If it's edible I'm happy. Doesn't even have to be warm. I'll eat cold food if I'm hungry enough. Hannah actually left out frozen pizzas or canned soup for me all the time. Most of the time the pizza was thawed by the time I got home and so it wasn't good to cook and the soup I would just open and eat without heating it."

"She didn't make you dinner?"

"Nope."

"Well, I guess I don't have to best her at being the better housewife." Harry choked on his beer and laughed as he wiped his mouth off.

"If there was a competition, I promise you, you have already won it. Anyway, speaking of your soon to be married title I picked up our engagement rings. Yes, I got us matching ones so the nurses can stop trying to persuade me into being straight. I’ve been telling them I’ve had a boyfriend for months and I think they don’t believe me.”

“Should I come by to your work to give you lunch one day? Be extra flirty?”

“Would you?” Louis laughed looking down at his plate, “I’m serious over here.”

“Sure, I’ll come over in my tightest pair of pants and your sweater I have at my house.”

“I have the perfect pullover hold on.” Louis opened his mouth to tell Harry to sit down but Harry was already running up the stairs by the time the words registered in his brain. Harry came back down on a minute later with a white pullover and when he spread it out, he saw STYLES was written on the back with the letter ‘19’ on the front and back.

“The hospital has a football team to encourage exercise and outdoor play. I bloody suck at football, but as my boyfriend you support me anyway.”

“Fiancé and give it.”

“Soon to be fiancé.” Harry countered with a grin as he handed the pullover to Louis who laid it with his other stuff in the living room. “Just come in wearing that and they’ll…hopefully back off.”

“Oh, they’ll back off. I can be mean if I want to be.”

“You’re the best.”

*********

Saturday morning Harry was waking Louis up in the guest room with French Toast, bacon, and three poached eggs.

“Eat, get ready, we should leave in two hours.”

“Go away.” Louis groaned, “Why did I agree to do this today?”

“Because you and I both know it’ll be easier to do wedding things without Freddie there. As much as I adore him, it would be very boring. See you downstairs.” Louis glared at Harry’s retreating back then turned his attention to the plate of breakfast and decided getting up this early was an even trade for breakfast that looked that good. Louis ate his breakfast quickly then got dressed for a day outside in the late September weather. He took his plate downstairs and put it in the dishwasher and turned to Harry as he laid out on the couch, his phone in his hands.

“Are you taking a selfie?” Louis asked grinning when Harry stretched his neck to look at him with a beet red face.

“I’m snapchatting Maddie. Meanie.”

“Meanie?! Wow. I’m impressed. For a doctor you certainly have a way with words.” Harry grinned rolling his eyes before looking back at his phone, “You take selfies weird.”

“There is no wrong way to take a picture you child. Stop making fun of me.” Louis laughed and headed to him, hands on his hips as he stood where his head was resting on the arm of couch.

“Ready to go old man?” Harry laid his phone on his chest facing upwards and looked at him with a soft smile on his lips, “What?”

“I bet you looked cute pregnant.”

“Really? That’s what you are thinking about? Well for the record I most certainly did not look cute pregnant. My ex made sure to tell me that everyday too. He wouldn’t even give a hand if you know what I mean when my stomach was in the way.”

“You’re joking.” Louis shook his head, “What a douche. Why did you like him?”

“The sex was good. I was young and naïve. He gave great head all things considered.” Harry laughed, “What? It’s true. Why’d you stay with Hannah for so long?”

“It wasn’t the sex I can tell you that much. When we were about to break up, we found out she was pregnant, so we stayed together. We had been having a hard time in uni, so we were discussing breaking it off but then she told me she was late one night, and I got a pregnancy test for her and it was positive. Honestly, I don’t even remember the last time I had sex…god I’m lame.” Louis laughed as Harry swung his legs to the ground and pushed himself up, “Ready then?”

“Yeah, come on virgin Mary.”

“Not funny. When was the last time you got laid?”

“Point taken. Moving on.” Louis said grabbing Harry’s pullover he gave him yesterday and pulling it on as they left the house. Louis slid into the passenger seat of Harry’s Murano as Harry got into the driver’s seat. “Where are we headed first?”

“I figured we’d do what will take us the longest first which is our venue. They’re all south of us as well except one. Want to start with the furthest one out which is four hours out. Ready?”

“I’m taking a nap on the road.”

“Go ahead.”

As predicted the venue looking took all day, but it wasn’t taxing at all. Most of the venues they were able to walk around alone or with just one staff member. The colorful leaves on the trees, not yet having fallen down, made every location look breath taking and each venue had pictures of what it would look like in the winter. It was relaxing really, and since Harry had only written down the ones that had the 19th available, they didn’t have to worry about falling in love with a place only for it to not be free that date. Louis held Harry’s hand throughout the day watching as he charmed his way through staff members and watching as his eyes lit up when he saw the snowy landscapes. There had been one staff member that hadn’t taken his eyes off of Harry for more than a few seconds that Louis shut down with a raised brow that made Harry blush and grin widely trying to pretend he had no idea what just happened and why the staff member didn’t look at Harry any more than appropriate after that. When they got to the SUV Harry had pinch him and exclaimed, they could not pick that venue for fear of a staff member ruining their wedding because of Louis. Louis had laughed and continued to laugh as they drove to the other venue. By the time they got home the sun was set and they had grabbed takeout on the road then relaxed on the couch watching a movie as they talked about the venues and what they liked and didn’t like until they had narrowed it down to their top three.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guys will be able to have a say in the venue! The reason it has taken so long is because as an American I have no idea about wedding venues in the UK. So I've been googling and I've only selected the ones that had Winter pictures so we all get an idea of what it looks like. In the comments go ahead and comment your favorite! It can be you only favorite or your top three! I do have three favorites that I am in love with writing a scene with. The Mills Wedding Venue didn't have many winter photos so I encourage everyone to google all the locations as well to get a good feel of them. I LOVE ALMOST EVERY SINGLE ONE SO THIS IS ALL UP TO YOU! I'll be counting Wattpad, Tumblr, and Archive's comments as they come until I am writing the chapter. If you need better pictures they will be on my tumblr page! LarryFanficWriter!


	6. Six

Louis lasted all of two minutes under his mother's stare before he was trying to look busy. Usually if he looked busy, she'd leave and wouldn't stick around but not this time apparently.

"Who's Harry?" Louis froze only a second before he continued his organizing of children's books.

"Who?" He asked.

"Freddie mentioned him a lot over the weekend. Said you were getting married?"

"I am?" Louis asked trying to feign innocence, but he knew he failed when his mother didn't budge. "We've....discussed it."

"And I haven't even met this young man. Or heard about him."

"Fine. When we started discussing marriage, we decided it was time for him to meet Freddie. He has a daughter, and she doesn't know anything. We kept it a secret from everyone to see where it went. He's a doctor, works weird hours and we only see each other a few times a month. We've restricted ourselves to texting and the times when I don't have Freddie we see each other as much as we can." Louis said looking at her, she was sitting on the couch with her leg crossed over the other and her arms crossed across her chest.

"How long have you two been together?"

"Over a year." She narrowed her eyes at him, and he swallowed turning away chewing his lip as he focused on the books.

"Were you with him over the weekend?"

"I was. We...um..." Louis pressed his lips together tried to suppress a grin, "we looked at venues." He spoke quickly before he turned away and headed to the kitchen grabbed random objects just to misplace them somewhere else.

"Venues? Like Wedding Venues?" Louis nodded grabbing a napkin and cleaning off the dry erase board for the month. September was ending in a few days anyway, so he didn't need it anymore. "So, you're getting married to a man we haven't met yet?"

"I've met him. Freddie's met him." Louis tried to defend himself.

"Has Zayn met him?"

"No."

"Is he...a criminal?"

"I just said he's a doctor. He works weird and long hours. We're getting married January nineteenth." His mother stared at him, but he refused to back down as he looked back at her.

"Are you pregnant? Is this your way of tying someone down?" Louis' eyes widen and his jaw dropped before he laughed shaking his head.

"No. He proposed to me. I'm not pregnant this isn't like that." Louis said.

"Fine then tell me what this is like? You've been together for a year Louis...what if you don't like his personality in the morning...what if he treats Freddie badly after he gets comfortable...what if he traps you into a loveless marriage popping kids out...what if-" Louis sighed and headed to the table sitting down across from her as the sounds of Freddie playing with his train set could be heard. He grabbed his phone and opened the video of Harry and Freddie as they built that set then gave the phone to his mother.

Her eyes widen briefly when she saw him, and she looked at him making him roll his eyes. The video played and he could hear Freddie's consistent chattering and questions and Harry's calming voice answering his questions and telling him not to do something repeatedly. Harry's endless patience impressed Louis and his parenting style despite not having a child to parent all the time was also calming and nothing like Louis could have ever hoped for in a partner. He knew the moment his mother finally let some of her worries go, it was same moment he allowed himself to trust Harry with Freddie. Freddie had been jumping on Harry's lap only stopping a few seconds at a time when Harry told him to. Freddie was a toddler still however, so he chose to play over listen more often than not and as a result had ended up accidentally hitting Harry in the head with his own. Harry, unlike most people even parents themselves, Louis included sometimes, didn't even react except to calmly make sure Freddie was okay then set him on the ground beside him and told him to stay there or go play. Freddie had sat beside Harry without comment. Harry didn't look angry, didn't let the injury make him lash out, didn't even look to be annoyed at all. It was one of the many things that came with Toddlerhood unfortunately, Louis has had many bloody gums and lips because of Freddie. Later Harry had explained that he had many patients head butt him on the daily and Freddie's head wasn't as hard as a grown man's was. He had also been preparing for it and it wasn't that big of a deal. Injuries happen in the parenting journey and how the parent reacts can reflect on the child. Harry made Louis feel stupid and inadequate a lot, but he never meant to, and Louis made sure to never actually tell Harry he made him feel like a bad parent more times than not whenever he got into his doctor mode.

"He seems lovely and he's cute." She said wiggling her eyebrows, "I can see why you wanted to keep him all to yourself."

"It wasn't like that. We both didn't want Freddie or Maddison to know until we knew it was serious. When marriage became a topic, we knew it was time to meet Freddie." He said taking his phone back, "when I saw how well they got along we started talking about in depth and decided to do it in January. Smaller intimate wedding with just immediate family and close friends."

"And his daughter?"

"That's where it gets messy. Her mother isn't...great. Before you say there are two sides to the story trust me this woman does not deserve the title. Maddison goes to the school I work at and I see this woman all the time. She doesn't let Harry see her, the only time they see each other is if Harry comes to the school for a few minutes or when her babysitter let's Maddison use her phone. It's a mess. Harry pays for child support, but the mother uses that money on herself and not Maddison then has the audacity to ask for more money from Harry and Harry let's her. He gives her money. Hannah will bribe Harry of seeing his daughter for money only for something to come up and say next time only to ask for more money. Harry's afraid if he says no it'll look bad in court, so he just gives her money." Louis explained as he rested his head in his hand, his mother let his words sink in before she slowly nodded.

"I can see why it's been a secret then...so he's taking her to court?"

"November he's asking for regular visitation then after six months of visitation he can ask for custody. She wants to move to America and take Maddison with her, Harry wants to keep Maddison here with...us for stability and since she has already started school. All of her family is in the UK her mother's side and Harry's side included. Her babysitter is here."

"Stability. Is he pressuring you to get married sooner for this reason?"

"No mom though I won't lie it has influenced us a little. I want to marry him and we both want a winter wedding. We are sacrificing a bigger wedding for a small one so it's easier to plan on short notice, but it's not because he's pressuring me. We have already been planning for Freddie and me to move in with him this November when my lease is up so getting married comes next and we're taking the step a little sooner than we would thought but not for the wrong reasons." Louis said carefully making sure he said the right things.

"Promise this isn’t him pressuring you?"

"I promise. Look I can't promise anything as a sit-down meeting but next time I see him I'll facetime you. Deal?"

"Deal. So, where's the ring?"

"At his house. We want to tell Maddison without her asking questions about a ring on my finger."

*****

Louis jumped and looked up at the knock on his own classroom door and stared at Harry in shock for a minute before he grinned. He stood up and walked up to him.

"What are you doing here?" Louis asked glancing over at his students briefly.

"Came to see what you and Freddie are doing later tonight."

"Who's this Mister T?" A male student asked teasingly, "a boyfriend perhaps?"

"Great. Thanks. You couldn't have texted me?"

"I was on my way here anyway. Figured I'd stop by to see you and ask about your plans."

"We are free why?"

"Sleepover?" His class immediately reacted with 'oooh's and laughter, "it's Friday night and this is my weekend off. I'm over my overtime anyways so I can't go into work until Monday even if I was scheduled."

"I'll ask Freddie what he thinks when I pick him up. I'm sure he'll be more than happy to say yes."

"Good. I'll text you." Louis nodded watching as Harry headed down the hall towards the staircase.

He shook his head and sat back at his desk ignoring his class as he focused back on grading. When the final bell ran fifteen minutes later Louis was the last one out as usual and headed to the main lobby. As he was walking down the stairs, he saw Harry and Hannah talking with Maddison between them. Louis watched for a few moments before Hannah finally rolled her eyes and stormed off leaving Maddison with Harry who kneeled upfront of her. Maddison nodded rubbing her face and Louis' heart broke realizing she was crying. Harry hugged her tightly, his arms covering her entire back as he pulled her into his body and her arms wrapping around his neck. Louis smiled at the scene they made and was about to head out but caught Harry's eye who smiled at him and wiggled his fingers in a small greeting. Louis waved back and headed their way smiling at Maddison when she turned to him.

"Hey sweetie." Louis said.

"Hi Louis." Maddison said smiling up at him, "guess what."

"Hmmm....let me guess....you cut your hair?"

"Nooo."

"You grew your hair?"

"Nooo silly."

"I know what it is. You're turning grey." He said making her laugh.

"No, I'm staying with Daddy this weekend and he promised that if you and Freddie come over, we can build a big fort and watch Toy Story."

"That sounds like the best Friday night a man my age could ever have. I'll be sure to tell Freddie the plan when I go pick him up." Louis said.

"Pizza sound good?" Harry asked looking at Louis who nodded.

"Pizza is always good. I'll come by after I grab some clothes for the weekend if Freddie is agreeable."

"Perfect. We'll be there awaiting your arrival."

****  
Louis took the offered blanket with a soft thanks as he sat on the patio swing overlooking the large backyard space that was rare to find in Manchester or anywhere in the big cities for that matter. Harry sat beside him, and Louis made sure to give him enough of the blanket to keep warm in the chilly night air.

“So, I’d say all things considered today was a great step.” Harry said watching the dogs run around to find a good spot to do their business.

“Yeah. Only three fights and one tantrum. A lot better than I thought it would be.”

“To be fair Maddie definitely had it coming when she tried to put makeup on him.” Louis laughed shaking his head remembering the fight they had to breakup. Maddie had somehow convinced Freddie to dress up as a princess with her, but Freddie refused to wear makeup, so Maddie decided to try and do it anyway.

“I can’t believe you let her do your makeup…I never thought I’d see you with lilac lipstick Harold.”

“I was rocking that lilac lipstick Louis don’t deny it. Lilac lipstick and bright yellow eyeshadow with light pink blush is a killer look.” Louis didn’t say anything as he slowly sipped his hot tea in his mug held between his hands.

“Sure it is.” Louis said smirking lightly as he remembered he still had to send those pictures to his mother before bed, “Maddie took the news well.”

“She likes you. It makes things easier on her part I guess since she knew you from school. What did you two talk about?” Harry asked turning to look at him completely.

“Oh, she asked me if she had to call me Papa and I explained to her and Freddie that our names will be fine and that there is no pressure to call us anything they don’t want to. Apparently, Hannah’s boyfriend makes her call him dad upfront of his family.” Louis said glancing at Harry hesitantly, but he just nodded, “You knew?”

“Yeah. He’s been trying to adopt her as well, but he can’t. Not without my consent and obviously I’m not giving it.” Louis shook his head looking over to the dogs.

“I can’t believe people are this petty…or horrible…why keep a father from his child?”

“I wasn’t the best boyfriend Louis…not back then. I was so focused on my education I neglected her emotionally that is. I didn’t bully her or anything, I wasn’t abusive by any means, but it’s not completely her fault. When she took Maddie and left I…I was so pissed, and I had the cops called on me for domestic dispute. Luckily, they didn’t have to arrest me as I left willingly, but I wasn’t innocent in this mess. Sometimes I’d take a last-minute grocery run with Maddie when I had her just to keep her a little while longer and it pissed Hannah off. I didn’t mean it in a rude way I just wanted more time with her than the few hours she gave me randomly. When I turned her down to rekindle the relationship because I finally wanted to be me and be with guys and be gay and be a doctor, she became like this and worse.”

“She cheated Harry…she wasn’t there to help you study or ease your stress from medical school. She wasn’t making sure you had hot food when you got home or anything. She started it and she let it grow and then she cheated and took your daughter and left without any type of communication. You may not have been giving her flowers every Friday or complimenting her everyday like you think you should have, but she also wasn’t do the same for you. None of it is your fault. You may not have solved the situation when you could have, but you didn’t cause it. Not really.” Harry looked at Louis, his hand holding his head up as he smiled at him.

“Thanks.” Harry said reaching out and taking his hand squeezing it, “I know I tell you this every time we talk, but I really do appreciate this.” Louis looked at him with a smile as he intertwined their fingers together and looked back out to the dogs. They sat there in the calm silence of the chilly night, letting it calm them from the busy week they both had.

“So, you never did tell me why you had Maddie. You started to but we got summoned for fort construction.”

“That’s right. Well, we got called into a meeting about her reading and writing. They want her to start tutoring and I argued, tutors always made me feel dumber and I learned by having at home help. Hannah had this whole sob story about not having money for a tutor and how things have been tight as she was wearing a designer belt. But you know the man, the father is always in the wrong, so he believed her and asked me if I’d be willing to pay for a tutor. Long story short I refused. I said she needs help from someone who has dyslexia, someone who gave it to her. AKA ME. It was a tense meeting but at the end of it I figured me refusing to pay for a tutor would look bad, so I agreed to pay the hundred a month for school hired tutor. When we left Hannah and I started arguing because I asked if I could have Maddie sometime soon as I had news, I wanted to share with her. Hannah wanted to know but I didn’t tell her and eventually it ended up with Hannah leaving after telling me to just keep her until Sunday.”

“Sounds like a fun conversation. Sad I missed it.” Louis said smirking lightly making Harry’s eyes roll.

“Jerk. Ready to go inside?” Louis nodded standing up and grabbing the blanket noticing that Harry didn’t let go of his hand as they headed to the glass sliding doors. At Harry’s whistle the dogs darted inside and towards the fort where the kids were fast asleep still after watching Toy Story. Well after watching thirty minutes of Toy Story to be exact. Harry, his hand still holding Louis’ headed up the stairs quietly and walked him to his guest room, “What do you want for breakfast in the morning?” He asked leaning his shoulder against the wall, his hands now holding Louis’ hand in them.

“I think the kids mentioned pancakes.”

“That they did. Pancakes it is then. Goodnight Louis. See you in the morning.” Harry said.

“Goodnight. Thanks for walking me to my door.” Harry laughed.

“Well, I’m nothing, but a gentleman.” He said before he gently kissed Louis’ cheek before he turned and headed to his own room.


	7. Seven

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the twenty days without an update. My good friend Depression is here visiting and she brought her besties Anxiety and Insomnia with her...so it's been a real party over here.

Harry was jumped wildly and spun around with his spatula in his hand ready to attack the person that decided sneaking up on him in the morning while he sang along to TLC ‘No Scrub’ was a good idea. However, when he was able to focus on who the person was, he saw Louis bent over laughing his ass off into his hand to keep from waking the kids that were still sound asleep. Harry glared at the younger man blushing in embarrassment as he turned back to his stove turning over his bacon.

“I could have hit you with my spatula Louis.” Harry complained.

“Oh yes…that would have caused real damage.” Louis teased, “The kids asleep?”

“Passed out still. I think we’re good for a few more minutes.” Harry said stepping away to grab a mug and hand it to Louis, “Electric kettle over there.” Louis took the mug and moved over to the kettle and opened the drawer that had every tea type imaginable. Louis was still shocked Harry had so much tea and was so organized about it. Though the organized part wasn’t as shocking now that he had seen Harry’s entire house, everything had its place and was organized, and it was a drastic difference compared to his own place where nothing was in its proper place because he didn’t remember where that proper place was anymore.

“So, our parents…how are we dealing with that?” Louis asked.

“I’m taking Halloween weekend off; I was thinking we all meet up here. My family and you family, the kids go trick or treating and us adults who want to cook stay here and make a large dinner. What do you think?”

“A large family dinner on Halloween? You’re either really confident or really stupid.”

“Both. What? Don’t think it’s a good idea? Come on this is a nice neighbor. Most of the houses give out the expensive stuff.” Louis laughed as he sipped his tea, “I think it’s a good idea. I always make graveyard pudding cups then let the kids pick out their top like gummy worms or tombstone chocolate models or candied ghosts. Needless to say, I am the favorite house on the block, and I have hot beverages for the parents if it’s cold.” Louis stared at him before he laughed.

“You’re _that_ house huh? Geesh.”

“ _We’re_ that house.” Harry said grinning at him, “Can you get the fruit salad out of the fridge? And the smaller bowl beside it.”

“Of course. How long have you been up for?” Louis asked opening the fridge pulling out the large serving bowl of cut up mixed tangerines, kiwis, blueberries, strawberries, and grapes. He set the fruit bowl on the counter then grabbed the smaller bowl that was clear-yellowish color with diced something inside of it.

“About two hours. I’m an early riser most mornings.” Harry explained as he placed the pancakes on a large serving plate and the bacon and sausage on another serving plate then put them in the oven to stay warm. Harry came over to stand beside him and took the smaller bowl and poured the contents on the fruit before stirring, “Don’t get your underwear in a knot it’s a lemon and honey dressing that compliments the fruits with chopped mint. It adds flavor.” Harry said chuckling.

“It adds flavor.” Louis mocked, “You and your fancy cooking and fresh ingredients. You make me sick.” Harry laughed as Louis walked away and headed to the living room to check on the kids. He decided to gently wake them up and let them know breakfast was ready relieved when they woke up in a good mood with growling bellies.

“Go wash your hands, brush your teeth, and empty your bladders if you have to then come right back down.” Louis said gently watch as the groggily headed upstairs, Freddie with his overnight backpack that had his things in it. He headed back into the kitchen and grabbed the finished fruit salad bowl and set it in the middle of the square table.

“I should tell you to not do that and let the kids handle it, but considering Maddie is clumsy in the mornings I’ll let it slide.” Harry said coming up beside him with the two serving plates.

“They can set the table for lunch.” Louis said rolling his eyes playfully before heading back into the kitchen to grab the four plates, two glass and two kids. He set the table, so he and Harry were facing each other, and the kids were facing each other like they did with dinner last night.

“Milk or juice this morning for Freddie?”

“Probably juice the only time he likes to drink milk with his breakfast is when he has cereal.” Harry came up beside him with a pitcher of juice that he poured into the kids’ cups just high enough that it wouldn’t spill over the edge during the grabbing action by children. A few minuets later the kids came down more awake than when they had headed upstairs and sat down at the table with their now filled plates of cut up pancakes, fruit, a bacon strip, and a sausage link. Harry and Louis made their own plates and sat down digging into the delicious food.

****

After breakfast, the kids went on a Scavenger Hunt for something Louis wasn’t allowed to know about. Maddie and Freddie had both dressed up as scavenger hunters for the occasion and were both very adorable in Louis’ opinion. Especially when they pretended the dogs were wild animals they had to escape from. Louis was currently lounging on the couch with his legs in Harry’s lap as he graded some papers, Harry looking over some papers and occasionally rubbing near his shins and ankles.

What are you looking at over there?” Louis asked laying his stack of papers on his stomach to look at Harry.

“Lawyer papers.” Louis sat up keeping his legs in Harry’s lap and moving closer, so his arm rested on Harry’s shoulder.

“Everything okay?”

“Yeah, I just want to be prepared…I don’t want to be blindsided by anything because I didn’t read the updated case papers.” Harry explained looking at him with a tired smile, he shifted to better face him with his arm resting on the back of the couch and his other hand resting between his knees, “What about you? How’s grading going?”

“Oh, grading is fine. It’s tiring but it’s fine. Each year is in the same class, so I only have one set of papers to grade since each year is different work.” Louis explained, “So what are they doing anything?” Louis asked when a loud giggle came from upstairs.

“They’re on a scavenger hunt for the ring box. Maddie asked if she could find it yesterday, so I hid it and made it into a treasure hunt for them. It’s an easy distraction and it makes them feel involved in the engagement process. I took a parenting class by parents online a few years ago that has a whole bunch of tips and tricks from other parents who want to and have formed better relationships with their children as they grow up. The one thing they all emphasized on was making the children feel needed and included in everyday lives. Like with setting the table, it makes them feel included in the dinner process. Helps them with responsibilities and such. Some kids it helps with emotion control. I still go back to website from time to time when I need help with Maddie or just to see what new parents are doing or asking about.”

“So, you’re not always perfect.” Louis teased making Harry laugh as he shook his head.

“No not always.” Harry said looking at him with a soft look on his face, “Are you worried about anything? With the court or marriage or anything?”

“I think I’m most worried about what my nonexistent relationship with Freddie’s father might impact your case, but there’s nothing we can do about that. I know logically it affecting your case is very slim, but still. It’s there. I don’t want that to ruin your chances.”

“It won’t. My lawyer even sent me an email explaining that it most likely be brought up by her lawyer as a way to make you look bad, but your relationship with your son and with Maddie will outweigh that by tons. Especially if Maddie talks with my lawyer about you and says she likes you. He has it on recording that she doesn’t like Hannah’s boyfriend.”

“What do you mean by recording?”

“It’s just a standard interview with the child to get their response on things. He asks her a few questions about what she thinks on certain things and uses it as evidence. Hannah’s lawyer done it as well and has the same recording which looks bad for Hannah considering the things she said. He wanted to do the same with Freddie, but I said no. The lawyers can’t question the child without the parent’s permission, but I don’t want Freddie dragged into this. Now when it comes to the custody hearing when we’re married and living together, they may challenge to do so just so the court knows he likes us being married and likes living with Maddie. That kind of stuff. But again, with him being so young he isn’t able to be questioned without our- well your say so.”

“What type of questions? Would I be able to read them before they’re asked?”

“Yes and no…They have to give you the list of questions before hand and get your approval. Anything you disapprove of you can tell them not to answer. However, it has to be done the same day as the meeting. They have to be in the same room to make sure you don’t influence his answers. With him being younger than Maddie they will most likely question him in a playroom setting and with you in the room but not close enough to influence anything. My lawyer is a father himself, if he thinks at any point Freddie isn’t understanding or just isn’t ready, he’ll end the questioning and they’ll scrap it.”

“Then I’m okay with them questioning Freddie closer to the court date. I want him to get…settled with this new arrangement first, but if your lawyer thinks it’ll help and if Freddie is okay with it then I’m okay with it.”

“Louis you don’t have to do that-“

“I know I don’t, but I want to help. It’s why I’m here after all isn’t it.”

“You’re here to marry me and essentially play the role of the at home papa who has routine work hours that means Maddie won’t be home with a nanny. You’re not here to make your son be questioned by lawyers.”

“I’m not making him do anything. We’ll ask him when it get closer to the time and if he doesn’t want to then we don’t allow it. Where did all that making them feel included speech go off to?” Louis teased.

“My wisdom only comes in short bursts on my days off…unfortunately you’re stuck with average Harry at the moment.

“What a shame. Smart Harry is way hotter.” Harry laughed pinching his leg making Louis jump and quickly hit the hand away.

“I’ll tell my lawyer the next time I speak with him that you’re thinking about it. He wants to meet you at some point anyway, I figured next weekend since I’m on nights we can plan for a meeting over breakfast before I go to bed.”

“Sounds good. We’ll plan like a Saturday breakfast meet up and then while you sleep, I can hang out with- damn Zayn gets Freddie…huh I’ll be free this weekend.”

“Lucky you. Whatever are you going to do with a whole weekend of freedom.”

“Well, I am moving soon so I guess I’ll be organizing things. Maybe go down and see my family for a few hours. Get drunk in the comforts of my home. Who knows? I could just laze around naked all weekend.”

“I hate you. God do I hate you.” Louis laughed resting his head in his hand as he stared at Harry, Harry stared at him mirroring him by resting his head on his hand as well. His amused expression turned soft after a few seconds, “How hard would you slap me if I kissed you?”

“Extremely hard.” Louis said chuckling.

“Like a cheek slap or a chest slap?”

“Probably a cheek.”

“Worth it.” Harry said before he was leaning in and pressing his unbelievably soft and very warm lips against Louis’. His hand that had been resting on the back of the couch cupped the side of his face while the hand that had been resting between his knees squeezed just above them. Louis had his hand raised and primed for the slap he had threatened him with only for it to end up curled in the hair on the back of his head instead. When the slap didn’t happen, Harry leaned further in and deepened the kiss while his hand slid into Louis’ hair pulling him in closer. Louis will forever deny that he got hard within ten seconds of snogging, he didn’t care what his body did, it didn’t happen. He would also deny the fact that he so easily complied with being laid down with Harry above him as if they were teenagers. Because that _definitely_ didn’t happen either. Another thing he would deny was how fast snogging led to grinding considering they were in fact adults…not teenagers.

“DADDY! LOUIS! WE FOUND THE TREASURE!” Maddison shouted from upstairs. 

“Funny so did I.” Louis laughed and decided making good on his promise was definitely worth it as he slapped Harry on the shoulder.

“That didn’t happen. We are not fucking teenagers.” Louis said as they quickly sat up and adjusted themselves on the sofa to hide their erections that would dispute his teenager claim. Harry turned to the stairs just as Maddie and Freddie came reached the bottom and ran towards them.

“You found it then huh?” Harry asked.

“Yupp.” Maddison said happily as she handed the box to Harry who dramatically turned so Louis’ wouldn’t be able to see the rings as he made a show of opening the case and inspecting the rings.

“Yeah, these are it...see this one is Louis’ because it’s smaller and this one is mine.” Louis watched as Maddie took one of the rings then came over to Louis and he laughed as he watched Maddie kneel upfront of him and grabbing his hand, “Mads I’m suppose to do that.” Harry said.

“Hush daddy I’m busy getting you a husband.” Louis covered his mouth with his other hand to contain his laughter, “Loulou...” she addressed him seriously.

“Yes, my love?” Louis asked.

“Will you marry my daddy?” She asked, big green eyes looking up at Louis who grinned widely.

“I would be honored to marry your daddy.” Louis said watching as she slid a silver ring on his finger with an elegant and simple gold loop, “very beautiful, what do you think?” he asked smiling at her as she tilted her head.

“I think it’s missing a few diamonds.”

“I’m not much of a diamond man I think your daddy did perfectly. Besides diamond rings are for weddings not engagements.”

“Also, the wedding bands are picked together, the engagement rings are simpler design since they aren’t worn long. Especially in this case.” Harry said leaning over to gently pinch Maddie who giggled leaning away from him.

“Okay you’re turn Freddie.” Maddie whispered though they could still hear her loud and clear. Logic of a child. Freddie grabbed a thicker band that was the same design as his but was in rose gold. Louis watched as his son got down on both knees and grabbed Harry’s hand and asked the same question Maddie had asked him but using the term ‘papa’ instead.

“I would love to marry your Papa Freddie.” Harry said grinning when Freddie none too gently pushed the ring on his finger. Harry grinned over at him then leaned over and pressed a very chaste and quick kiss against his lips. Louis grinned pressing his hand against Harry’s cheek before turning to the kids.

“So how about we convince Harry to go to the dog park before the weather gets bad?” Louis suggesting looking over at harry when the kids cheered and started asking loudly and climbing onto Harry’s lap wildly.

“Alright! Alright!” Harry shouted playfully, “We’ll go to the dog park.” He said glaring at Louis.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the twenty days without an update. My good friend Depression is here visiting and she brought her besties Anxiety and Insomnia with her...so it's been a real party over here.


End file.
